Thomas goodbum



UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIoE.

THOMAS GOODRUM, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND, ASSIGNOR TO ALBERT'J. MANCHESTER, OF SAME PLACE.

Specification lbrining part of Letters Patent No. 58,940, dated October 1G, ISGG.

` To all whom it may concern:

Be it. known that I, THOMAS GooDRUM, of the city and county ot' Providence, in the State of Rhode Island, have invented a new and Improved School-Boys Book-Package Binder; and I do hereby declare that the following specification, taken in connection with the drawings making a part ofthe same, is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

Figure 1 is a top view. Fig. 2 is a side view as the article will appear when in use.

School-boys have long been accustomed to bind together in a package the books which are required to be carried home i'or use at their evening tasks by means of a leather strap provided with a buckle at one end, through which the other end of the strap is passed. As it is necessary to draw the strap lightly around the books to prevent them from slipping our, it follows that the covers of the books at the top and the bottom ot' the package are soon broken at the edges and det'aced.

To provide a convenient article for this purpose which will hold the package together with perfect safety and without injury to the books is the object of my invention.

In the accompanying drawings, A A are respectively strips of hard wood (for which any other suitable material may be substituted) of a convenient length to accommodate the ordinary sizes of books. To the upper strip, and midway between the ends, is attached a convenient handle, B, to the shank of which is secured a windlass-barrel, O. The shank a of the handle passes through the strip, and may be riveted over a collet upon the under side, or otherwise arranged so that it can be turned freely. There is also at the upper end of the windlass-barrel, and furnishing a flange to retain the cord presently to be described, a plate, b, which is provided with ratchet-teeth c, and in connection with such teeth is a holding dog or stop, d, arranged in any usual and convenient way.

The two stri ps or binders A A are connected by means of a cord, c, which is passed through holes near the ends of the strips, which it will be bet-ter to shape and round at the edge like hawse-holes, and is finally secured at both ends to the barrel ot' the windlass.

It is quite obvious that with the proper length of cord the two bindingstrips A A can be separated from each other, to permit the introduction oi' the number of volulnes to be carried, which when properly adjusted by turn ing the handle B the cord e will be wound upon the windlass-barrel, and canse the bindersA A to compress the books sufliciently to keep them in place, where they will be held by means of the engagement of the holding. dog d with one of the teeth of the ratchetplate b.

It is not necessary that the cord e should be a single cord, as shown in Fig. 2, and be led lengthwise along the bottom surface of the lower binder; but it may be cut in two, and be secured at the ends to the extremities of the lower binder. It is, however, much better that the arrangement should be as shown, for by this means any stretching of the cord is distributed equally throughout its length, and the binders are made to press upon the outside books with equal force at all points ot' their surfaces.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A portable boolepackage binder constructed and operating as described, the article being substantially as herein speciied.

THOMAS GOODRUM.

Witnesses:

JOHN D. THunsToN, GEORGE B. BARnows. 

